Page 19 of Death on the Rocks (Lily Larkin Mysteries #1)

Chapter Nineteen

TUESDAY

After spending most of the night tossing and turning, Lily finally fell into a deep sleep just as the sun was rising, then woke with a start hours later.

Frantically, she hopped out of bed and pulled on jeans and a hoodie. She’d tried calling the police again the previous evening but had once again had no luck.

Now, she cursed herself for not trying harder to get in touch with them. She could have called the emergency number and asked them to pass on a message, or tried messaging through their social media site, as the locals apparently did.

There was no sense worrying about that now. She’d try an in-person visit to the station and hope the place was manned.

A rush of relief hit her when she swept the bedroom curtains aside. The fog remained, meaning Alanna and Marc wouldn’t have been able to leave the island yet. It felt suddenly imperative that no one went anywhere until the police had got to the bottom of all of this.

The power walk along the quiet lanes got Lily’s blood pumping and she felt a rush of anticipation when she approached the police station.

Distracted, she didn’t immediately see the Millers lingering outside the building. It was the voices that drew her attention.

“I’d like to get on the next ferry,” Flora said to her husband. “After all this, I need a break. As soon as the weather clears, we’ll go over and spend a week or two with Kerry and Jim.”

“We can’t both go,” Rodney argued. “We have guests.”

“I’m going to cancel the bookings.” Sniffing, Flora dabbed a tissue under her eyes.

“You can’t just cancel bookings. Especially not at such short notice. Are you trying to ruin us?”

Flora opened her mouth to reply, but spotted Lily and smiled gently instead. “Hello, love,” she said. “Such a shame about the weather. Hopefully it’ll clear soon so you can properly explore the islands.”

“Yes,” Lily said, glancing past them at the door of the police station.

“Were you coming to see PC Grainger?” Rodney asked.

“Umm…” She hesitated. “Yes. I wanted to check in and see if he had any more questions for me or anything.”

“You can’t stop thinking about all this business either, I take it?” Rodney said. “Poor Oscar is the same. We had to give him the day off because he’s so shaken by the whole thing.”

“Terrible,” Flora muttered. “Life goes on, though. Make every moment count. It just makes me want to be with my daughter and grandchildren.”

Rodney’s eye roll was subtle, but Lily caught it all the same. “PC Grainger is there now,” he said, standing aside to let Lily pass.

“See you later,” she said, managing a weak smile as she left them.

“Hi,” PC Grainger said, looking up from his computer screen.

“Morning,” she said, then glanced at her watch, happy to find it was still morning.

He flicked a hand toward the chair opposite him. “How can I help you?”

“I wanted to talk to you about the camera. Vinny’s camera,” she clarified. “The stolen one.”

He nodded slowly. “I haven’t contacted his sister yet, but when we do, his belongings will be returned to her. The camera included.”

Lily blinked rapidly. “What?”

“His sister is his next of kin, so his things will go to her.”

“Including the camera?” she asked, confused.

“Yes.”

“But…” Her mind whirred. “The camera is lost.”

“It turned up.” The tilt of his head made it clear that he’d assumed she knew that.

“It can’t have turned up,” she said. “What do you mean?”

“Mr and Mrs Miller have just handed it in. Apparently, it was misplaced all along.”

Lily struggled to get her brain to catch up. “Where was it found?” Presumably the Millers had also stumbled across it in the shed. Whoever had stashed it there must be kicking themselves for their poor hiding spot.

“In the neighbour’s garden,” PC Grainger said. “At the time it got lost I understand furniture was being moved around. I guess Vinny set it down on the garden wall and it got knocked off.”

“No,” Lily said on a quick inhale.

“Excuse me?” PC Grainger said.

“It was in the shed. Someone hid it in the shed. Have you checked the photos on it?”

“I had a quick look,” he said, eyes drifting to the bulky camera case on the sideboard, which Lily hadn’t noticed until now. “It’s all work photos.”

“The other memory cards,” Lily said in a rush. “Did you look at them?”

“No,” he said slowly. “I just had a brief glance over the labels. It appears it was all from his work trip on the islands.”

“There’s one with a smiley face on the label,” Lily told him. “You need to look at that one.”

“I didn’t notice anything like that.” He slid his chair back and reached for the camera bag.

“Aren’t you supposed to wear gloves?” she asked as he lifted the camera out and set it on the desk.

His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t look up from the camera case. “This isn’t CSI.”

“Clearly,” she muttered.

One corner of his lips twitched into a smirk. He lay out the memory cards between them. “I don’t see anything unusual,” he remarked.

“I don’t understand.” Lily sifted through them. “It’s not here.”

“What isn’t?”

“There was another memory card and it had different photos on it…”

“Different how?”

“Photos of a naked woman,” she said. “Girl really. A teenager, I guess. She looked young and…” She winced. “It didn’t seem as though she wanted to be photographed.”

PC Grainger sat up straighter. “And you saw these photographs when, exactly?”

“Yesterday. I found the camera in the shed at the Miller’s place.”

He frowned. “The Millers found it this morning at the other side of the garden wall.”

“That’s not where it was yesterday.”

“Why didn’t you report this yesterday?”

“Because I panicked and hid it again. I tried to call you but there was no answer so I decided to wait until there was no one around and get the camera to bring it to you. But when I went back for it in the evening, it wasn’t there any more.”

“Weird,” PC Grainger said, twisting his lips to one side. “You looked through the photos yesterday?”

“Yes.” She glanced down at the selection of memory cards again. “There was another one.”

“Having naked pictures isn’t a crime,” he pointed out. “Maybe it was a girlfriend.”

“I really don’t think so. The woman was really young and she looked scared. Also, if it was perfectly innocent, why would someone hide it?”

“And why would the camera have been in the shed and then magically appear behind the garden wall?” he mused.

“Exactly,” Lily said, feeling validated by the flicker of excitement in PC Grainger’s eyes.

“This all sounds quite suspicious,” he said.

“Do you think the photographs had something to do with his death?” The edge of excitement in Lily’s voice was probably quite inappropriate.

“I don’t know.” His rubbed at his jaw. “This clearly needs further investigation. I need to make some calls, then I’ll get back to you.

In the meantime, I don’t think you should speak to anyone about what you’ve just told me.

No doubt I’ll need to interview you again later, but for now just don’t go far. Okay?”

“Thanks to the fog, that isn’t even possible.” She hopped out of her seat. “I’ll be at the bed and breakfast, but you also have my number. I’ll talk to you later.”